- "Just meat", except there's a wide variety of meat qualities, ways to cook it, and spices used. For example, a good carne asada actually uses meat that has been grilled or smoked, not just fried.
- "Just cheese", except the type of cheese, and quality matter. For example, if they're using a cheddar blend, that's not good Mexican. Queso cotija is a must on good tacos.
- "Just beans", except beans range all the way from canned (like Rosaritas) to the really good, restaurant-made, cooked with lard beans. The beans can be VERY different restaurant to restaurant.
- "just salsa", but the salsas are extremely important too. Sure, the table salsa that they serve with chips, but also the salsas in their dishes. There is a huge variety in qualities here.